Core Dump

Enable core dump

1. Ensure that they are enabled. Run the following command. If the reply is not unlimited, the core dumps are disabled or limited.

    $ ulimit -c
   

2. Run ulimit -c unlimited to enable creation of core dumps from the current shell session.

    $ ulimit -c unlimited
   

File location

1. Location of core dump config file

    $ cat /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
    |/usr/share/apport/apport %p %s %c %d %P %E
   

2. Rewrite contents of core_pattern file so that the core is dumped to the current working directory.

    $ sudo bash -c 'echo core.%e.%p.%t > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern'
   

Usage

1. Simple usage of GDB, to debug coredump files

    $ gdb <executable_path> <coredump_file_path>
   

2. After getting inside the GDB prompt (on execution of the above command), type

    $ (gdb) where
    $ (gdb) bt
    $ (gdb) thread apply all bt
   

   This will get the information, of the stack, where we can analayze the cause of the crash/fault.